Change in relationship status from single to partnered 102-05010000

Scenario

Coding Requirements

Customer and/or partner are on YA/ABSTUDY as a dependent and are both now assessed as independent

As both the customer and partner are now assessed as independent, MS is to be updated.

If the relationship start date provided by the customer was for a past period where either the customer or partner were dependent, MS can only be updated from a period that both the customer and partner were assessed as independent.

Refer to Independence for ABSTUDY customers and Independence for Youth Allowance (YA) customers for more information.

Return to Table 2 > Step 3 for MS page coding instructions.

The customer/partner previously received YA as a dependent at the start of the relationship, they have since had a child with their partner and one party is now claiming FTB/CCS/PPL only

A YA customer cannot be partnered for a period they were assessed as dependent.

This means the earliest the customer can be considered as partnered is from the date they were deemed to meet independence. If both the customer and partner are on YA, this would be the date they both meet the independence criteria.

If becoming partnered results in a rate increase, the customer will receive the partnered rate from the later of:

• the date they became independent, if they advise Services Australia within 14 days of the change, or
• the date they advised the change, if advised more than 14 days after the change occurred

If becoming partnered results in a rate decrease, the customer will receive the new rate from the earlier of:

• the date they became independent

Refer to Assessing independence when a customer has, or has had, a dependent child for details on assessing independence.

Refer to Family assistance customer becomes partnered for coding instructions.

The customer/partner previously received ABSTUDY as a dependent at the start of the relationship and one party is now claiming another payment

If the customer/partner was:

• in receipt of ABSTUDY 6 months after the advised relationship start date, the correct Event Date to use is 6 months after the date the customer has advised, as the customer/partner would be considered independent for ABSTUDY purposes from this date.
  • Refer to Youth Allowance (YA) or ABSTUDY customer becomes partnered for more information.
• not in receipt of ABSTUDY 6 months after the advised relationship start date:
  • For FTB/CCS/PPL only claims, refer to Family assistance customer becomes partnered for coding instructions
  • For all other claim types, return to Table 2 > Step 3 for MS page coding instructions

When attempting to link the customer and their partner, errors can present due to a mismatch in accommodation coding between the two records.

Historical accommodation details must not be altered to ensure they match between the customer or partner just to bypass errors.

However, it may be necessary to update previously recorded accommodation details in the scenario where the relationship status has been updated for a period in the past for the purposes of raising a debt. That is, the customer was partnered from an earlier date, therefore accommodation details need to be corrected. An overpayment on rent assistance and income support will be generated. See Completing the Accommodation Details (AC) screen and assessing Rent Assistance (RA)

For new claims, where the customer or partner were not previously in receipt of a payment, the date of claim can be used as the event date on MS where AC errors are presenting. The alternate date used and the reason must be clearly recorded in the grant DOC.

Where AC errors present, the date of event coded on MS can be recorded as the date of claim.

Return to Table 2 > Step 3 for further instructions on the coding of the MS page.

Coding a same-sex relationship which started prior to 1 July 2009

Staff must use as the Date of Event (DOV) of 1 July 2009 as the start date for a same-sex relationship which commenced before 1 July 2009.

This is the date customers in a same-sex relationship were recognised as partnered due to legislative changes.

Coding a same-sex relationship start date prior to 1 July 2009 will result in error code E143CU presenting.

Note: if a same-sex relationship started after 1 July 2009, the DOV is the date the relationship started.